The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Literacy campaign should make people confident, says Baragur

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 09, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Literacy campaign should make people confident, says Baragur

Staff Reporter

Large presence of volunteers overwhelming: Dharam Singh

MUSICAL WELCOME: Chief Minister Dharam Singh and Primary and Higher Education Minister Ramalinga Reddy arriving at the inauguration of the State-level International Literacy Day in Bangalore on Thursday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE: Writer and former chairman of Kannada Development Authority Baragur Ramachandrappa on Thursday said the literacy campaign should be able to infuse self-confidence among people.

Speaking at the State-level 41st International Literacy Day celebrations organised by the Directorate of Public Instruction and Department of Education here, Prof. Ramachandrappa said that education system should become universal and help eradicate inequalities in society. Stating that audacity of literates and the rich are a bane, he said that the campaign should form a society beyond such evils.

Prof. Ramachandrappa said more than a quarter of the population in the country is illiterate.

He said it is a paradox to talk about complete literacy as all the facilities and power are in the hands of a large chunk of society.

He said unless India achieves complete literacy, the inequalities present between men and women, "completely" literates and "half" literates, urban people and the rural folk, anganwadi education and kindergarten education, general education and professional education, and the like will continue to haunt society. While commercialisation of education has become rampant, the age-old concept of "Jnana Dashoha," (charity of knowledge) has remained only with the literacy campaign.

Inequalities

He said there is a need to rethink the purpose and need of education system to eradicate inequalities. Inaugurating the celebrations, Chief Minister N. Dharma Singh exhorted the need for honest implementation of various government schemes, including the literacy campaign.

He said he was overwhelmed by the presence of literacy campaign volunteers in large numbers and noted that awareness can help eradicate illiteracy. He said the midday meal scheme introduced by the previous government has been a great success and helped reduce the student dropout rate considerably.

The Union Minister of State for Programme Implementation M.V. Rajashekharan launched the Government of India sponsored literacy campaign for low literacy areas in Koppal, Raichur, Chamarajanagar and Gulbarga districts.

The dignitaries released a number of books and CDs brought out by the directorate on the literacy campaign.

Minister for Water Resources M. Mallikarjuna Kharge, Minister for Primary Education Ramalinga Reddy, Mayor R. Narayanaswamy, secretary of the Education Department T.M. Vijayabhaskar, director of the directorate Nagambika Devi, N.L. Narendra Babu, MLA, and K.B. Munivenkata Reddy and Umashree, MLCs, were present.

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